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JANUARY - Sam's 6th grade basketball team at Skyway won three if their six games. Sam played great, he played a lot of different positions. Sam's hockey
team The Blizzards won the entire season's championship. The first time since he started playing hockey. Sam also participated in the Cotillion at the Broadmoor. He learned how
to dance several dances, the tango, merangue, and cha-cha-cha with girls. He also learned how to introduce himself to a lady, how to bring her a drink, make small talk, hold a chair for her, and
how to dance. Yeah. |
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FEBRUARY - Celebrated Valentine's Day. |
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MARCH - Great-Grandma's 89th birthday was this month so we took her to Red Top hamburgers to celebrate her birthday. Sam enjoyed a giant cheeseburger and fries.
During the first day of Spring Break Sam went for a long bike ride with his friend John. I was sitting at work and I got a calm call from Grammy telling me he had a little accident but
he should be okay; however, I might want to head home. So, I actually wrapped up my last meetings and told my boss I was headed home. By the time I got there Sam was laying on the couch on his side
because his legs, arm and side were covered with road rash. He also said his wrist hurt. I took care of him the rest of the day and planned to drop him off to Grammy the next day for more pampering.
Once I got him there the next morning and his wrist's swelling had gone down, I knew we were headed to the hospital. So we went to Fort Carson and by the time we had the first X-ray it was a broken wrist.
Then I said to the doctor, "Can you look at his back?" So she pulled off his shirt, and sent us right back to X-ray. One more x-ray down and he had a broken clavicle. One cast, one sling, and a cancelled
ski trip later we spent most of the rest of the week resting up at home. We finished up the month by quietly flying a kite. |
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APRIL - Oh boy this is the busiest month. First, Easter was early in the month. We colored Easter eggs and of course the Easter bunny was good to Sam (texting, and a new phone!)
Next, we celebrated Sam's birthday (Angry bird's theme if you couldn't tell). Sam's birthday is near the end of the month. He wanted to go to Red Robin so he could get a sundae and people singing happy birthday
to him. And, I hid his presents in the trunk (where he thought my golf clubs were) and brought them in when his burger arrived (making Grandpa come with my as a ruse to check the oil in the car). I brought in his
BIG present, an XBOX with Connect. He was ecstatic!!! In order to earn this big present Sam had to keep an "A" average in 6th grade. But this year he was in both advanced Math and Reading so the ante was really
amped up. I'm thrilled. Sam really has stepped up to the plate. Finally, Sam had his last band concert of the year. He was the lead percussionist and played wonderfully. Finally we quietly finished out the month
with Sam's piano recital. He played the themes from Star Wars, and the Imperial March. |
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MAY - WOW where did this year go. This was Sam's last month of 6th grade and lots of things happened. First, Sam participated in the first annual Skyway Robotics Club. The members
built Lego robots to traverse a programmed path and then displayed them at the Robotics Exhibition at the Jack Swigert Aerospace Academy. Next, there was the 6th grade play. It was a musical about a princess, lost
at birth and how her father send knights out on a quest to find a dragon and they end up finding the princess. The play was a comedy and the kids did a great job. After that was the 6th grade camp. The kids were
super excited to spend a few days away from their parents and they had a great time building team work skills. Rolling to an end, Sam and mom participated in the Skyway Marathon. Thank goodness Sam had completed most
of his 26 miles before he broke his clavical and wrist on the FIRST day of spring break. Mom also finished her 26 miles (just barely). And last but not least was the Skyway Graduation which mom coordinated for the school.
It was held at the Junior High (appropriately enough) and the ceremony was a tear jerker. All the ladies who helped put it together stepped up and did a GREAT job. I heard nothing but wonderful comments! |
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JUNE - FINALLY Summer vacation. Sam has a HUGE summer schedule:
- Two weeks in Indiana with Grandpa and John
- 2 sessions at the UCCS Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) program
- Boy Scout summer camp at Camp A (which got cancelled, due to the Waldo Canyon Fire, and rescheduled at Pueblo Reservoir)
- A Harry Potter theatre class at Bemis Art Studio
- Cheyenne Mountain Junior High School Baseball and Football camp
- A moon mission at the Challenger Space Center
- And one awesome trip to Washington DC with mom!!!!
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JULY - WASHINGTON DC here we come over Fourth of July!! Okay, so typical Derrickson trip. First, we leave during one of the most devestating events in Colorado Springs history, the
Waldo Canyon Fire. Then we get to Washington DC which has just had a MAJOR windstorm (like hurricane force
winds) and it has knocked out power to most of DC area (thankfully not out hotel the Washington Plaza) so at least we had air conditioning, and of course during the
fourth worst drought in "recorded" American history for the entire nation. But we had fun despite ourselves.
- Day one we flew into Washington DC in the morning and then headed over to Georgetown and got cupcakes at DC Cupcakes. In
the evening we had a tour of the Kennedy Center and we watched a live performance.
- Day two was a tour out of Representative Doug Lamborn's office of The Capitol Building.
Before the tour we went down to the tunnels underneath the buildings and had lunch at the cafe with all the interns and politicians.
- Day three was the Library of Congress tour and then The Supreme
Court, where again we went down to the underground cafe and had lunch with the lawmakers of the land.
- Day four was the Fourth of July. We saw the parade (not nearly as fun as you might think at over 100 deg F). We had a little siesta
in our hotel room and then we went out to the west lawn of the White House where we watched the "National Treasure" movies and waited for
the fireworks. As we were waiting we saw President Obama and his family come out on the roof of the White House to watch fireworks with us.
Pretty neat!!
- Early on day five was the National Archives to see the Consitution and Declaration of Independence.
Then the beginning of the Smithsonians. Wholly Cow is there a lot there to see. First we started with the Natural History Museum.
We saw an IMAX movie, a display on early Virginia colonization, and then we went over to the Air and Space Museum. Again, Wholly cow. We
saw the Spirit of St. Louis, the Wright Brothers, Manned flight to the moon. Sam also got to ride in a jet simulator (I had to go too,
EGH for the stomach!!) So much to see so little time.
- Day six was the monument day. We rented bikes and rode all over the city seeing all the big monuments (Washington, Lincoln, Jeffereson,
WWII, Vietnam), and we tried to go to Arlington Cemetary but you can't bring bikes onto the grounds.
- Day seven was a quiet day in the hotel room waiting for our flight to leave and come home. Thankfully there was a cool rain when
we arrived home.
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AUGUST - The first day of 7th grade started for Sam on August 16th at Cheyenne Mountain Junior High |
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SEPTEMBER - Nothing better than another vacation!! Over Labor Day Sam and I decided to visit the Southwest
part of the state of Colorado.
- Day one we drove to Cortez Colorado and got to our hotel room
- Day two was Mesa Verde. We took a tour of the Cliff Palace and Balcony House.
Yikes that Balcony House had some scary vertical drops. I hate that stuff!! Sam loved it.
- Day three was Hovenweep and the Canyon of the Ancients.
- Finally on day four was Four Corners and Bridges National Monument. The drive to bridges involved the scariest dirt road up to the top
of a mesa I have ever driven!!
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OCTOBER - Sam is a First Class Boy Scout of Troop 101. Here are the boys in their finest. |
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NOVEMBER - ANOTHER vacation!! Thanksgiving is the perfect time to go to Orlando!!
- Day one flying to Orlando. Unfortunately mom was sick this day and the next so not a lot happened
- Day three was Seaworld. So, our first productive day was at Seaworld. Sam LOVED all the roller coasters. AND now he's
old enough to ride them without me!! YEAH!
- Day four was Discovery Cove. What a nice way for mom to recuperate from being sick. Lounging around in the hot sun, having drinks
brought to you, snacking, and swimming with dolphins. While Sam was off snorkelling, rafting on the lazy river, and swimming in the heated pools. This was a GREAT day.
- Day five and six were Universal Studios. This was the whole reason we came to Orlando. Sam is OBSESSED with Harry Potter and we NEEDED to visit
the Hogwarts at Universal Studios. He LOVED it, it was all he imagined it would be. He rode the roller coasters, drank butter beer, ate at the Three Broomsticks, saw Olivander's wand shop and the show!
We spent all of Thanskgiving Day just in that part of the park. The next day we came back and Sam discovered all the other fun parts of the park like all the roller coasters, other rides and The Blue Man Group
show. What a great couple days.
- Day seven and eight were Disney World. We finish up our trip seeing Mickey, the new parks at Disney World, and finally riding the Mt Everest ride which
we saw being built the lst time we were there.
What an awesome trip. We got home tired but elated. |
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DECEMBER - So, just when we expected to have a quiet month at home Sam ended up with Mono at the outset of the month. He
was out of school for a couple days; however, since it was finals time he had to grit his teath and make it through. What a trooper!! But, once vacation
started he had lots of time to stay home and rest. We both did. AHHHH! |
| More miscellaneous pictures of Sam in 2012:
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